Enrichment process for H. pylori neutrophil activating protein (NAP) utilizing metal chelate chromatography

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a process for enriching the presence of  H. pylori  NAP in a mixture of proteins. The process involves salting-out other proteins. NAP has been found to remain soluble at ammonium sulphate concentrations of 80% and above. The process may involve the additional step of metal chelate chromatography. The combination of salting-out and metal chelate chromatography results in very pure NAP. The NAP may have the same sequence as NAP naturally occurring in  H. pylori  and is free from sequences typically associated with recombinant protein production. The processes and NAP of the invention can be used in diagnostic and therapeutic products and processes.

The invention relates to the NAP protein of Helicobacter pylori.

BACKGROUND

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative spiral bacterium which infects the human stomach. It is believed that over 50% of the world's population harbour the bacterium.

Clinical isolates of H. pylori can be characterised by the expression of a vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA), which induces vacuole formation in epithelial cells, and an immunodominant cytotoxin-associated antigen (CagA). Type I strains, which predominate in patients with ulcers or cancer, express both of these proteins, whereas type II strains express neither.

Various antigenic proteins have been described for H. pylori, (e.g. references 1&2) including its urease, VacA, flagella proteins, and adhesins. A protein known as NAP, (neutrophil activating protein (3,4)), which is found in both type I and II strains, appears to be protective when tested in the H. pylori mouse model (5).

NAP is a homodecamer of 15 kDa subunits (6), and it has been proposed that the multimeric complex has a ring-shaped structure which spontaneously forms hexagonal paracrystalline structures. The assembled protein appears to interact with glycosphingolipid receptors of human neutrophils (7).

Based on homology with bacterioferritins, it has been suggested that NAP may act as an iron buffer (3). However, the presence of neither iron nor heme has been detected to date. The protein has also been reported to be a Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter (8).

As its name suggests, NAP promotes activation and adhesion of neutrophils to endothelial cells. Whilst it is has been suggested that this function is unlikely to be related to its intracellular function (3), the proadhesive activity can be neutralised by antiserum (6). Since neutrophil activation and adhesion to endothelial cells constitute inflammation mechanisms, and since H. pylori is responsible for stomach inflammation, it seems likely that NAP represents the factor, or a factor, of H. pylori responsible for inflammation, probably at an early stage of gastric ulcer disease when an abundant accumulation of neutrophils in the superficial gastric mucosa is observed.

A protocol for the purification of the NAP decamer from H. pylori has been described (6), involving agarose chromatography, molecular sieving and ion-exchange chromatography. This gave a yield of 72%. Recombinant NAP production in E. coli has also been reported (7). The gene was cloned into plasmid pTrxFus to produce a thioredoxin fusion protein. Protein was then purified in the same way as the native protein. The N-terminal thioredoxin was reported not to affect the biological activity of NAP.

There remains, however, a need for pure NAP without the presence of cloning artefacts, fusion domains or the like. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a process for the purification of native NAP. It is a further object that this process should be straightforward, easily scalable and economically feasible. It is a further object that the process should provide a highly pure protein.

We have now found that NAP has a surprisingly high aqueous solubility, remaining soluble even at 80% ammonium sulphate saturation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a process for enriching the presence of H. pylori NAP in a mixture of proteins, comprising the step of salting-out other proteins.

The salting-out step leaves the majority of NAP in soluble form. Although any suitable salt can be used, it is preferred to use ammonium sulphate. The final salt concentration is preferably 50% saturation or more (eg. 60%, 70%, 80% or more). The salting-out step preferably precipitates at least 50% of the proteins present in the mixture (eg. 60%, 70%, 80% or more).

Because of the surprisingly high solubility of NAP, this salting-out step alone removes the majority of proteins, considerably enriching the presence of NAP.

The resulting mixture of soluble proteins, enriched for NAP, may then be subjected to further enrichment. It is preferred to clarify the mixture first, however, in order to remove material precipitated in the salting-out step. This is typically achieved by filtration or, preferably, by centrifugation.

A suitable step for further enrichment utilises metal chelate chromatography (9). Any suitable immobilised metal ion can be used (eg. zinc, cobalt, copper), but nickel is preferred.

In a preferred embodiment, therefore, the invention provides a process for the purification of H. pylori NAP from a protein mixture, comprising the steps of salting-out and metal chelate chromatography. This provides a simple two-step purification scheme for NAP.

By “purification” it is meant that NAP forms at least 75% (by weight) of the resulting mixture (eg. 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 97%, 99% or more).

The protein mixture may be any suitable source of NAP protein. Examples include H. pylori bacteria themselves, or other hosts which express the gene encoding H. pylori NAP (such as transformed bacteria). These are preferably lysed or disrupted prior to NAP enrichment/purification in order to allow access to their cytoplasmic components (eg. sonication, French press, Hughes press, enzymatic lysis, grinding, freeze/thaw etc).

Preferred conditions and reagents for performing the processes of the invention are those set out in the examples below (eg. bacterial strains, vectors, restriction enzymes, culture media, temperatures, buffers, analytical methods etc.). For instance, in order to remove low molecular weight components, it is preferred to include at least one step of dialysis during the enrichment/purification process.

According to the invention, there is also provided a process for enrichment or purification of NAP from a recombinant host, wherein said NAP has the same sequence as NAP as naturally occurring in H. pylori. The purified or enriched protein is free from amino acid sequences typically introduced during the process of recombination or recombinant expression (eg. polyhistidine tags, thioredoxin fusions, GST fusions, intein-terminal sequences etc.).

According to the invention, there is further provided a process for the preparation of a diagnostic agent or therapeutic agent (eg. an immunogenic composition or vaccine), comprising enrichment/purification of NAP as described above, followed by suitable formulation. For agents to be administered to animals, for instance, this might involve formulating the NAP into a physiologically acceptable buffer. For an immunogenic composition or vaccine, this might include the addition of an adjuvant, for instance. For a diagnostic reagent, this might involve the addition of a detectable label to NAP (eg. a radioactive or fluorescent label). These formulation steps are well within the capability of the skilled worker.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided NAP obtainable according to any of the above processes.

There is also provided NAP having the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 3 as SEQ ID 2.

In addition, the invention provides fragments of NAP according to the invention, wherein said fragments retain one or more of the following functions: (a) the ability to activate neutrophils; (b) the ability to bind a NAP-specific antibody (eg. the fragment retains one or more epitopes of full-length NAP).

Furthermore, the invention provides nucleic acid (eg. DNA or RNA) encoding said NAP or said fragments of NAP.

There is also provided a therapeutic or diagnostic agent comprising NAP (or fragments of NAP) according to the invention. This is preferably an immunogenic composition, such as a vaccine.

In preferred embodiments, the diagnostic or therapeutic agents of the invention comprise additional H. pylori proteins or antigens. For example, the compositions might comprise VacA (vacuolating cytotoxin) and/or CagA (cytotoxin-associated antigen) and/or urease proteins in addition to NAP.

Vaccines according to the invention may either be prophylactic (ie. to prevent infection) or therapeutic (ie. to treat disease after infection).

Such vaccines comprise antigen or antigens, usually in combination with “pharmaceutically acceptable carriers,” which include any carrier that does not itself induce the production of antibodies harmful to the individual receiving the composition. Suitable carriers are typically large, slowly metabolized macromolecules such as proteins, polysaccharides, polylactic acids, polyglycolic acids, polymeric amino acids, amino acid copolymers, lipid aggregates (such as oil droplets or liposomes), and inactive virus particles. Such carriers are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Additionally, these carriers may function as immunostimulating agents (“adjuvants”). Furthermore, the antigen may be conjugated to a bacterial toxoid.

Preferred adjuvants to enhance effectiveness of the composition include, but are not limited to: (1) aluminium salts (alum), such as aluminium hydroxide, aluminium phosphate, aluminium sulphate, etc; (2) oil-in-water emulsion formulations (with or without other specific immunostimulating agents such as muramyl peptides or bacterial cell wall components), such as for example (a) MF59™ (WO 90/14837), containing 5% Squalene, 0.5% Tween™ 80, and 0.5% Span 85 (optionally containing various amounts of MTP-PE, although not required) formulated into submicron particles using a microfluidizer (b) SAF, containing 10% Squalane, 0.4% Tween 80, 5% pluronic-blocked polymer L121, and thr-MDP either microfluidized into a submicron emulsion or vortexed to generate a larger particle size emulsion, and (c) Ribi™ adjuvant system (RAS), containing 2% Squalene, 0.2% Tween 80, and one or more bacterial cell wall components from the group consisting of monophosphorylipid A (MPL), trehalose dimycolate (TDM), and cell wall skeleton (CWS), preferably MPL+CWS (Detox™); (3) saponin adjuvants, such as Stimulon™ may be used or particles generated therefrom such as ISCOMs (immunostimulating complexes); (4) Freund's complete and incomplete adjuvants (CFA & IFA); (5) cytokines, such as interleukins (eg. IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-12, etc.), interferons (eg. IFNγ), macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), etc; and (6) other substances that act as immunostimulating agents to enhance the efficacy of the composition. Alum and MF59™ are preferred.

As mentioned above, muramyl peptides include, but are not limited to, N-acetyl-muramyl-L-threonyl-D-isoglutamine (thr-MDP), N-acetyl-normuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (nor-MDP), N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutaminyl-L-alanine-2-(1′-2′-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-huydroxyphosphoryloxy)-ethylamine (MTP-PE), etc.

The immunogenic compositions (eg. the antigen, pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, and adjuvant) typically will contain diluents, such as water, saline, glycerol, ethanol, etc. Additionally, auxiliary substances, such as wetting or emulsifying agents, pH buffering substances, and the like, may be present in such vehicles.

Typically, the immunogenic compositions are prepared as injectables, either as liquid solutions or suspensions; solid forms suitable for solution in, or suspension in, liquid vehicles prior to injection may also be prepared. The preparation also may be emulsified or encapsulated in liposomes for enhanced adjuvanticity effect, as discussed above.

Immunogenic compositions used as vaccines comprise an immunologically effective amount of the antigenic polypeptides, as well as any other of the above-mentioned components, as needed. By “immunologically effective amount”, it is meant that the administration of that amount to an individual, either in a single dose or as part of a series, is effective for treatment or prevention. This amount varies depending upon the health and physical condition of the individual to be treated, the taxonomic group of individual to be treated (eg. non-human primate, primate, etc.), the capacity of the individual's immune system to synthesise antibodies, the degree of protection desired, the formulation of the vaccine, the treating doctor's assessment of the medical situation, and other relevant factors. It is expected that the amount will fall in a relatively broad range that can be determined through routine trials.

The immunogenic compositions are conventionally administered parenterally eg. by injection, either subcutaneously or intramuscularly. They may also be administered to mucosal surfaces (eg. oral or intranasal), or in the form of pulmonary formulations, suppositories, or transdermal applications. Dosage treatment may be a single dose schedule or a multiple dose schedule. The vaccine may be administered in conjunction with other immunoregulatory agents.

NAP according to the invention can also be used in immunoassays to detect antibody levels (or, conversely, anti-NAP antibodies can be used to detect antigen levels). Immunoassays based on well defined, recombinant antigens can be developed to replace invasive diagnostics methods. Antibodies to NAP within biological samples, including for example, blood or serum samples, can be detected. Design of the immunoassays is subject to a great deal of variation, and a variety of these are known in the art. Protocols for the immunoassay may be based, for example, upon competition, or direct reaction, or sandwich type assays. Protocols may also, for example, use solid supports, or may be by immunoprecipitation. Most assays involve the use of labeled antibody or polypeptide; the labels may be, for example, fluorescent, chemiluminescent, radioactive, or dye molecules. Assays which amplify the signals from the probe are also known; examples of which are assays which utilize biotin and avidin, and enzyme-labeled and mediated immunoassays, such as ELISA assays.

The invention also provides kits suitable for immunodiagnosis. These contain the appropriate labeled reagents and are constructed by packaging the appropriate materials, including the compositions of the invention, in suitable containers, along with the remaining reagents and materials (eg. suitable buffers, salt solutions, etc.) required for the conduct of the assay, as well as suitable set of assay instructions.

According to the invention, there is also provided a process for detecting antibodies against NAP in a biological sample, comprising the step of contacting NAP according to the invention with said biological sample.

According to the invention, there is further provided a method of immunising an animal, comprising the administration of NAP according to the invention. This NAP is preferably in the form of a vaccine composition.

As an alternative to protein-based vaccines, DNA vaccination may be employed [eg. Robinson & Torres (1997) Seminars in Immunology 9:271–283; Donnelly et al. (1997) Annu Rev Immunol 15:617–648]. Accordingly, rather than comprise NAP, the vaccines of the invention might comprise nucleic acid encoding NAP.

The invention further provides a protein comprising the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 3 as SEQ ID 2. This protein may be used in the same way as NAP according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the complete sequence of the gene encoding NAP in strain CCUG (SEQ ID NO:1), which was cloned into plasmid pSM214G to give pSM214-NAP. The Figure also shows the sequence (SEQ ID NO: 9) in the plasmid vector flanking the 5′ end of the gene (lower case) and the deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2).

FIG. 2 shows a comparison of the nucleotide sequence of the cloned NAP (SEQ ID NO: 1) with that in references 6 (SEQ ID NO: 3) and 8 (SEQ ID NO: 4). FIG. 3 shows, inter alia, amino acid differences (SEQ ID NO:2) at residues 8, 58 & 80 (in comparison with reference 6 (SEQ ID NO: 5)) and residues 8, 73, 97, 101 & 140 (in comparison with reference 8 (SEQ ID NO: 6), deduced from the whole genome sequence).

FIG. 4 shows SDS-PAGE (A) and Western blot (B) of total cell proteins from E. coli. Lane 1: total extract from transformed cells; lane 2: negative control; lane 3: low MW markers.

FIG. 5 shows Poinceau staining (A) and Western blot (B) of transformed E. coli. Lane 1: soluble extract; lane 2: insoluble extract; lane 3: low MW markers.

FIG. 6 shows Poinceau staining (A) and Western blot (B) of transformed B. subtilis. Lanes 1 & 2: strain SMS118, soluble & insoluble extracts, respectively; Lanes 3 & 4: strain SMS300, soluble & insoluble extracts, respectively; lane 5: negative control (B. subtilis transformed with pSM214 without the NAP insert).

FIG. 7 illustrates the effect of salting-out by ammonium sulphate. Lanes 1 & 2: 60% saturation, pellet & supernatant (from E. coli), respectively; lanes 3 & 4: increased saturation from 60% to 80% (pellet & supernatant, respectively); lane 5: purified NAP; lane 6: markers.

FIG. 8 shows the purity of the final NAP product. Lanes 1–3 contain material purified from E. coli; lanes 507 contain material purified from B. subtilis (SMS118). From left to right, these lanes contain 1 μg, 2 μg & 3 μg protein, respectively. Lanes 4 & 8 are markers.

EXAMPLES

The practice of the present invention will employ, unless otherwise indicated, conventional techniques of molecular biology, microbiology, recombinant DNA, and immunology, which are within the skill of the art. Such techniques are explained fully in the literature eg. Molecular Cloning; A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition (Sambrook, 1989); DNA Cloning, Volumes I and ii (ed. Glover 1985); Oligonucleotide Synthesis (ed. Gait 1984); Nucleic Acid Hybridization (ed. Hames & Higgins 1984); Transcription and Translation (ed. Hames & Higgins 1984); Animal Cell Culture (ed. Freshney 1986); Immobilized Cells and Enzymes (IRL Press, 1986); A Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning (Perbal, 1984); the Methods in Enzymology series (Academic Press, Inc.), especially volumes 154 & 155; Gene Transfer Vectors for Mammalian Cells (ed. Miller & Calos 1987, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory); Immunochemical Methods in Cell and Molecular Biology (ed Mayer & Walker, 1987); Protein Purification: Principles and Practice (Scopes, 1987); Handbook of Experimental Immunology, Volumes I–IV (ed. Weir & Blackwell 1986).

Cloning of the Gene Encoding NAP

The gene shown in FIG. 1 was amplified from the CCUG chromosome using the following PCR primers, which also introduced SacI and HindIII restriction sites:

-   -   5′-ctcgagctctagagggtattaataatgaaaacattgaat-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 7)         -   5′-cccttaagcttttaagqcaaatgagcttc-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 8)

The amplification product was digested with SacI and HindIII and ligated into plasmid pSM214G [10] which had been digested with the same two enzymes. This plasmid is a shuttle expression vector between E. coli and B. subtilis. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the recombinant gene is expressed under the control of a constitutive promoter and a ribosome binding site, which function in both E. coli and B. subtilis.

The ligated plasmid was used to transform E. coli and positive clones were selected on chloramphenicol plates. A plasmid from one positive clone (“pSM214-NAP”) was isolated and characterised. Glycerol batches of this clone were stored at −80° C.

In addition, the plasmid was used to transform B. subtilis, which was also stored as glycerol batches at −80° C.

Preliminary Expression Analysis

Single colonies of transformed E. coli or B. subtilis strains were inoculated into 4 ml LB-CAP medium (ie. LB medium +20 μg/ml chloramphenicol) and cultured to 14 hours at 37° C. Control strains were grown containing the transformation vector without the NAP insert.

E. coli cultures were harvested and resuspended in SDS-PAGE loading sample buffer. B. subtilis cultures were harvested, treated with 0.3 mg/ml lysozyme (30 minutes, 37° C.), and then 3×SDS-PAGE loading sample buffer was added. The samples were incubated for 5 minutes at 95° C. and separated by SDS-PAGE, after which the proteins were analysed by Coomassie blue staining and Western blot. The blot was visualised with an antiserum obtained by immunising a rabbit with a NAP-thioredoxin fusion (FIG. 4).

The transformed bacteria clearly express a 15 kDa protein not present in the non-transformed strains, as shown by rabbit antiserum.

Cell Culture and Lysis

Single colonies of transformed E. coli or B. subtilis were inoculated in 5 ml LB-CAP and incubated for 37° C. for 10 hours. The 5 ml cultures were then used to inoculate 2 liter flasks containing 500-ml LB-CAP. After 14 hours incubation at 37° C. on a rotary shaker (250 cycles/min), the cells were harvested by centrifugation at 6000 g for 20 minutes at 4° C. Cell pellets were disrupted using either sonication or a French press.

For sonication, the pellets were resuspended in 8 ml buffer A (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8) supplemented with 0.3 mg/ml lysozyme. After incubation on ice (10 minutes) and then at 37° C. (7 minutes), 35 μl of a 2 mg/ml DNaseI solution (Sigma D-4263) was added. The samples were put on ice and sonicated extensively until disappearance of viscosity (Branson sonifier 450, medium tip, duty cycle 50, output control 5, approx. 25×2 minute cycles of 1 minute sonication/1 minute on ice). The lysate was brought to 14 ml with buffer A and centrifuged at 20000 g for 20 minutes at 4° C. Supernatant (soluble total extract) and pellets (insoluble total extract) were separated and either used immediately or stored at −20° C.

For French press disruption, cells were resuspended in 15 ml buffer A and lysed by three passages in the press. The soluble proteins were collected by centrifugation at 12000 g for 30 minutes at 4° C. and the supernatant was brought to 28 ml with buffer A.

SDS-PAGE analysis of the soluble and insoluble total extracts (FIGS. 5 & 6) show that the serum raised against NAP reacts only with the soluble fraction, indicating that NAP is fully soluble in buffer A.

Protein Purification

B. subtilis total soluble proteins were diluted with buffer A to give a total protein concentration of 8 mg/ml (Bradford). Ammonium sulphate was added to a final concentration of 60% saturation and the salting-out process was left overnight at 4° C. with gentle stirring. Precipitated proteins were removed by centrifugation at 12000 g for 30 minutes at 4° C. and the supernatant was dialysed overnight against buffer A.

The dialysed solution was loaded onto a nickel-activated chelating sepharose FF column (1×8 cm) equilibrated with buffer A. The column was washed with buffer A+200 mM NaCl. Protein elution was carried out with a 46 ml linear gradient of 0–40 mM imidazole, followed by a second 10 ml gradient of 40–100 mM imidazole (flow rate 0.5 ml/min). Elution was then continued with 25 ml 100 mM imidazole.

Fractions were analysed by SDS-PAGE, and those containing NAP were pooled and dialysed against PBS buffer (pH 7–7.5).

NAP was purified from E. coli in the same way, except that the salting-out procedure used 80% saturation.

Purity

From 1 liter of culture, the results of the purifications were:

Bacterium NAP (mg) Purity (SDS-PAGE) B. subtilis 10 90% E. coli 30 95%

An indication of purity, by Coomassie Blue staining, is given in FIG. 8. The material from E. coli appears to slightly purer. A yield of 80% is estimated, by densitometric analysis.

Salting-Out

NAP appears to be soluble even at very high concentrations of ammonium sulphate. As shown in FIG. 7, NAP remains soluble even at 80% saturation. Lane 4 of the gel shows that salting-out alone gives a high degree of purification.

Multimeric Assembly

The ability of purified NAP to assemble into a multimeric form was investigated using size exclusion chromatography (non-reducing, non-denaturing). NAP was loaded on a Sepharose 12 HR 10/30 column equilibrated in buffer (25 mM Tris-HCl, 150 mM NaCl, pH 7.8) and eluted at 0.5 ml/min. Regardless of the source of the NAP, the protein eluted in a single peak having the same retention time as yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (MW 150 kDa), indicating a decameric structure [6].

N-Terminal Sequencing

N-terminal sequencing of purified NAP was carried out using a Beckmann LF 3000 protein sequencer equipped with on-line RP-HPLC analysis of PTH amino acids. The 10 amino acids sequenced were identical to those deduced from the gene sequence shown in FIG. 1.

Comparison with Native Protein

H. pylori CCUG cells were collected from the surface of blood agar plates, washed in ice-cold PBS, and resuspended in lysis buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, 2.5 mM EDTA, 0.3 mg/ml lysozyme, pH 7.8). The cell suspension was incubated at 37° C. for 20 minutes, sonicated, and centrifuged at 20000 g for 40 minutes. The supernatant (soluble proteins) was stored at −20° C. until use.

The retention time in gel filtration chromatography for NAP purified from E. coli or from B. subtilis was identical to that in the H. pylori soluble protein extract.

It will be understood that the invention is described above by way of example only and modifications may be made whilst remaining within the scope and spirit of the invention.

REFERENCES

-   1. Telford J L, Covacci A, Rappuoli R, Ghiara P (1997) Immunobiology     of Helicobacter pylori infection. Curr Opin Immunol 9:498–503. -   2. Telford J L, Covacci A, Ghiara P, Montecucco C, Rappuoli R (1994)     Unravelling the pathogenic role of Helicobacter pylori in peptic     ulcer: potential new therapies and vaccines. TIBTECH 12:420–426. -   3. Evans D J, Evans D G, Lampert H C, Nakano H (1995) Identification     of four new prokaryotic bacterioferritins, from Helicobacter pylori,     Anabaena variabilis, Bacillus subtilis and Treponema pallidum, by     analysis of gene sequences. Gene 153:123–127. -   4. WO96/01272 & WO96/01273, especially SEQ ID NO:6; see also     WO97/25429. -   5. Marchetti M, Aricò B, Burroni D, Figura N, Rappuoli R, Ghiara     P (1995) Development of a mouse model of Helicobacter pylori     infection that mimics human disease. Science 261:1655–1658. -   6. Evans D J, Evans D G, Takemura T, Nakano H, Lampert HC, Graham D     Y, Granger D N, Kviety P R (1995) Characterization of a Helicobacter     pylori Neutrophil-Activating Protein. Infect Immun 63(6):2213–2220. -   7. Teneberg S, Miller-Podraza H, Lampert H C, Evans D J, Evans D G,     Danielsson D, Karlsson K-A (1997) Carbohydrate binding specificity     of the neutrophil-activating protein of Helicobacter pylori. J Biol     Chem 272:19067–19071. -   8. Tomb J-F et al. (1997) The complete genome sequence of the     gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Nature 388:539–547. -   9. Sulkowski E (1985) Purification of proteins by IMAC. TIBTECH     3:1–7. -   10. A derivative of pSM214—Bellini et al, J. Biotechnol.     18:177–192—in which the Amp gene has been replaced with a     multi-cloning site. 

1. A process for enriching the presence of H. pylori NAP (neutrophil activating protein) in a mixture of proteins comprising said NAP, said process comprising the steps of: salting-out other proteins from said mixture of proteins thereby producing a supernatant comprising said NAP, wherein the salt concentration of the mixture of proteins is at least 50% saturation; subjecting said supernatant to metal chelate chromatography, and eluting said NAP from said metal, wherein said step of eluting yields a mixture of proteins enriched in NAP content of the total protein and wherein said NAP is not a fusion protein.
 2. The process according to claim 1, wherein said metal is nickel.
 3. The process according to claim 2, wherein said NAP is recombinant NAP.
 4. The process according to claim 1, wherein said NAP is recombinant NAP.
 5. A process for the purification of H. pylori NAP (neutrophil activating protein) from a protein mixture comprising said NAP, said process comprising the steps of: salting-out other proteins from said protein mixture to produce a supernatant comprising said NAP wherein the salt concentration of the protein mixture is at least 50% saturation; subjecting said supernatant to metal chelate chromatography; and eluting said NAP from said metal, wherein said NAP is not a fusion protein, thereby obtaining purified NAP.
 6. The process according to claim 5, wherein said metal is nickel.
 7. The process according to claim 6, wherein said NAP is recombinant NAP.
 8. The process according to claim 5, wherein said NAP is recombinant NAP.
 9. A process for enriching the presence of recombinant H. pylori NAP (neutrophil activating protein) in a mixture of proteins comprising said recombinant NAP, said process comprising the steps of: salting-out other proteins from said mixture of proteins thereby producing a supernatant comprising said recombinant NAP, wherein the salt concentration of the mixture of proteins is at least 50% saturation; subjecting said supernatant to metal chelate chromatography; and eluting said recombinant NAP from said metal, wherein said step of eluting yields a mixture of proteins enriched in NAP content of the total protein, wherein said recombinant NAP is a fusion protein, and wherein enrichment of said recombinant NAP by the step of metal chelate chromatography is not mediated by a fusion domain of said recombinant NAP.
 10. The process according to claim 9, wherein said metal is nickel.
 11. A process for the purification of recombinant H. pylori NAP (neutrophil activating protein) from a protein mixture comprising said recombinant NAP, said process comprising the steps of: salting-out other proteins from said protein mixture thereby producing a supernatant comprising said recombinant NAP, wherein the salt concentration of the protein mixture is at least 50% saturation; subjecting said supernatant to metal chelate chromatography; and eluting recombinant NAP from said metal, wherein said recombinant NAP is a fusion protein and wherein purification of recombinant NAP by the step of metal chelate chromatography is not mediated by a fusion domain of said recombinant NAP, thereby obtaining purified recombinant NAP.
 12. The process according to claim 11, wherein said metal is nickel.
 13. A process for enriching the presence of H. pylori NAP (neutrophil activating protein) in a mixture of proteins comprising said NAP, said process comprising the steps of salting-out proteins from said mixture of proteins and removing salted-out proteins from said mixture of proteins thereby producing a supernatant comprising said NAP, wherein the salt concentration of the mixture of proteins is at least 80% saturation, and wherein said NAP is recombinant NAP. 